My work is the thumbnail image for a new Leeds Arts University MA course!
Guys!! Picture the scene: I’m reading a new email from Leeds Arts University, it’s introducing their new Postgraduate courses, wait a second - surely not?! That’s a new course being advertised by a comic page from my Death Zine (my final project for my Comic and Concept Art degree from LAU)!
I immediately ran to check on their website and Google - it’s the thumbnail!! My art!
I had already made a print of this page and, of course, included it in Death Zine, but there are a few mistakes my eye always goes to first whenever I see it. Seeing it like this, it makes me remember what I liked in it! It’s part 2 of a set of two one-page comics; in the first, Marie Antoinette is warned of her incoming death by the spirit of Joan of Arc. In part 2 Marilyn Monroe is recounting to her therapist how she’s being warned by both Joan and Marie, but dismisses it. The message isn’t as clear as it was for Marie Antoinette in the previous comic, clouded by alcohol and medication and learnt/internalised self-doubt.
I’m so flattered they’re using it. I wonder why they did? Maybe the colourfulness, maybe that it’s clearly a comic page (bold centre speech bubble)? My own time at LAU was broken up by the pandemic and anxiety, but it’s a beautiful building and the Comic and Concept Art BA was AMAZING! A dream course. All the staff were knowledgable and passionate about their specialisms, and the rest of the University’s staff were equally as supportive (I probably wouldn’t’ve gotten through the 3 years without my student wellbeing mentor!). This new Comic Art and Graphic Novel MA course looks like it would be so helpful, informative, and fun. If I was less in agoraphobia-world I’d jump at the chance to be on it!
The CCA course is something I wish had been around back when I was first choosing where to go to University and what to study, back in 2011. I’m not surprised it’s getting so popular and has now sprouted a Postgrad course! Before the BA I figured I’d get a full degree in something I’ve loved since I was a teenager (comics) and then use it alongside my Counselling Skills levels to get into an Art Therapy Postgrad degree. Over the course I was so inspired and became so hopeful that comics could be a career for me, that I decided to give it a real shot! Maybe in the future I’ll go for Art Therapy, but for now I’m using the skills I learned at LAU to give my ultimate dream career a fighting chance!
THANK YOU LAU! ⭐️